I Predict Success!

So over here in Blighty the Kaiser Chiefs have scored their first Number One with their song "Ruby". Upon hearing it, I was ecstatic. having heard samples of other songs that will be on the Kaiser's long awaited second album, Yours Truly, Angry Mob, I think we've got a real winner here.

Mind you, I am incredibly biased. Their first album, Employment, was what I like to call a "Dido album". This means that, just like Dido's first album, No Angel, there was not a song on it which I did not like, and it is a very rare occurrence when this happens, particularly for me as I'm such a picky listener. So there was obviously a lot of anticipation towards this second album, often referred to as the "difficult" one.

I have been let down before, not least by the aforementioned Dido. Life For Rent has its moments, but it just doesn't fill me with the sense of inner peace and wonder that No Angel does. Hopefully her third album will be a bit more to my taste.
What the Kaiser Chiefs seem to have done, however, is started to get a bit darker and rebellious in some of their songs. Sure there was some sinister undertones to songs such as "I Predict A Riot", "I was Born To Be A Dancer"and such, but the title track of this second album culminates with a rather chilling chant:

"We are the Angry Mob,

We read the papers every day,

We like who we like, we hate who we hate,

But we're also easily swayed."

I admit it doesn't look particularly chilling, but under a strong drumbeat and bass line it truly has an awesome effect on the hairs on your neck.

I don't think the Kaiser Chiefs are going to have a problem with this second album, despite the fuss of the "difficult" status attached to it. Reviews, though somewhat mixed, have only gone down as far as three stars. Possible reasons are that bands such as Arctic Monkeys, who have truly pushed the idea of "city music" to the next level, have done just that. But the Chiefs recorded every song in Leeds - hell, they even wrote every song in Leeds. I'm looking forward to this album immensely, and will be back in probably a few months time to give my actual verdict.

By the way, I'd like to point out that I'm rather proud of the fact that, despite the label of Music Wednesday I have not once mentioned Britney Spears. Until now. Damn.

Laters.

It's The Oscars!

So, here it is again. The Oscars. And were they predictable this year? You betcha.

Helen Mirren winning Best Actress - could have put money on that, same with Forest Whitaker taking Best Actor. The Supporting categories were a little harder to place, though how stpid do three judges of American Idol feel after Jennifer Hudson won, huh?

No, where I was surprised was in the Best Director and Best Film categories. Sure, Scorcese's Oscar was long overdue but I felt that Paul Greengrass' incredible United 93 would get the nod. In fact, I was a little puzzled as to why the latter was not up for Best Film either. Could it be that Hollywood is beginning to get tired of films to do with 9/11? Has Michael Moore bored the whole of America with his rantings?

Sod's law says that Scorcese doesn't win another award now until his honary one, which will no doubt be handed to him in the next decade. Perhaps this is a LOTR award. What I mean by that is that no awards were given to Lord Of The Rings until the final film came out - a sort of ultimate recognition for the work done. Perhaps this is how the Academy feels about Scorcese, though heaven forbid he should stop making films.

So that's it for another year. Now we've got the summer to look forward to really for the next big movies, the ones which will not stand a chance of being nominated because they are Summer Blockbusters and nobody nominates these films for an awards other than sound and visual effects and animated feature and what not. Still, it would be pretty cool to see The Simpsons Movie up for Best Film - oh no, wait - they changed the rules, didn't they? It would only be able to win Best Animated Film, just like Pan's Labyrinth was only able to be up for Best Foreign Film, which it undeservedly lost. Thought I'd just put that rant in to keep Kermode happy.

What I was pleased to see was that Babel or Babble as the Americans pronounce it only won one award. Good, because the less pretentious nonsense that is made just to win awards the better. The same happens with literature and the Booker Prize over here. I am a strong believer in the idea of "story for story's sake", but every so ofetn you read a book so utterly pretentious, so mind-mubingly boring, that you just know it's been written just to win some fancy pants award. That is not what good entertainment is at all, and taht's why we watch movies and read books, isn't it? For entertainment.

A Right Royal Knees Up

So, Prince Harry (the short one) has decided that he's going to go over to Iraq and fight for his grandmother and country. The press have been screaming their way through the pages about this subject. Then Tony Blair (Not Yet, Gordon) decides to pull at least 5000 troops from the United Kingdom States of Iraqiland by May. Coincidence? Probably not, but it's fun to speculate!

Let's face it, Harry is the black sheep of the Royal Family at the moment. Edward seems to have quietened down a lot recently - it's probably his wife thats doing that - and so for the last few years Harry has been the one courageously volunteering to slander the Royal Family's reputation even more in the Brittish Press. Whether it's getting rather tipsy with a couple of very attractive women or dressing up as aNazi, Harry has always steered the press well clear of the only other thing they're interested in - his mother.

But now, enough's enough. Time to go and grow up, to be a man, to kill a few innocent Iraqi civillans. That's the spirit, Harry - show them what the Brittish are made of. And why should he be worried? After all, the last royal to be killed was Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth in the very early 16th Century, and even then, if Bill Shakespeare is to be believed, he wasn't a particularly nice man, murdering his young nephews and giving hunchbacks a bad name.

What I want to know is how long he plans to be over there for. Will he be one of the 5000 troops called back in May? You can picture it now: "Oh, look, a rifle, spiffing, I'll just shoot a few ruffians..." "Sorry, your Highness, but the Prime Minister has said that it's time to put the toys away and come home because it's past your drinking time."
But seriously, will he be away in Iraq during August? Because, of course, we have coming up the tenth anniverary of Diana's death, need we be reminded. Is this a ploy to stop him from ballsing the whole thing up? Probably not, but like I said, it's fun to speculate.

On a final note, the last royal to go into combat was Andrew in the Falklands War, another era of battle for us that, in all fairness, didn't really come off that well until he was involved. Could Harry inject some posh charisma and optimism into the formula? Time, as ever, will tell...

Yikes

Ok, slightly panicking today. Housing are being real aresholes over how we re-apply for our house next year. There are 3 of us - me, Media Nurse and Smoker - who want to stay, plus we think we may have a new guy who wants to move in. BUT they say that there has to be four of us! WTF! Hopefully we'll get it all sorted out before we end up in the streets in the cardboard box houses. Then we'd be like, "Hey, you wanna know where we live?" and they'd be like, "Yeah," and we'd be like, "Well, you see the cardboard box houses?", "Yeah?" ,"And you see the house behind it?", "Yeah?", "Yeah, we live in the cardboard boxes."